500px app pulled from the iOS App Store over nude photos

According to a report in TechCrunch, both the official 500px app and the third-party ISO500 app were pulled from the iOS App Store because they violated App Store rules surrounding pornography.

500px is a popular photo sharing service catering to professional photographers and artists. The accompanying iOS app has been in the App Store for well over a year and has accrued over 1 million downloads. A recent update was flagged for having objectionable content and a review by Apple determined that it was too easy to access nude photos using the app’s search functions.

“The app was removed from the App Store for featuring pornographic images and material, a clear violation of our guidelines. We also received customer complaints about possible child pornography. We’ve asked the developer to put safeguards in place to prevent pornographic images and material in their app.”

Chief Operating Officer Evgeny Tchebotarev says the app has a safe search setting that filters out nude images and pointed out that pornography is not allowed on 500px. Any nudity on the photo sharing site is artistic, he said, not pornographic.